Abstract Detail

Although polyploidy is rampant in ferns and plays a major role in shaping their diversity, the evolutionary history of most polyploid taxa remains unclear. Isozyme electrophoresis can provide important clues regarding polyploid origins; however, low-copy nuclear gene sequencing holds even greater potential as it can be used to place polyploid genomes in a phylogenetic context. Here, we report the development of new primers for the amplification of a portion of the nuclear gapCp gene. Through a broad survey across ferns, we demonstrate that these new primers are nearly universal for this clade. With a case study in cheilanthoids, we show that this rapidly evolving marker is a powerful tool for uncovering polyploid ancestries. Our results indicate that gapCp holds considerable potential for addressing species-level questions across the fern tree of life.